By Mark Baber
December 14 – US prosecutors have used a leak to the Financial Times newspaper to pile pressure on the banks, central to the FIFA corruption scandal, to provide more information of use to their corruption probe.
The superseding indictment is clear that “the defendants and their co-conspirators” in the FIFA corruption case “relied heavily on the United States financial system in connection with their activities with the enterprise.” Indeed, “this reliance was significant and sustained and was one of the central methods and means through which they promoted and concealed their schemes.”
To date no bank officials have yet been charged, but an article in the FT, based on sources “familiar with the case” states that “US prosecutors are threatening to punish banks for failing to report suspicious activity on FIFA-related accounts as part of the sprawling corruption probe into world football’s governing body.”
The FT points out that any charges brought “could have serious implications” pointing to the example of JPMorgan Chase who had to pay a $2 billion penalty for failing to file such reports in relation to the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme.
The “people familiar with the matter” have even given the FT the names of banks which are having “private discussions” on the matter – including JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, HSBC, Standard Chartered and UBS.
In addition, those people “familiar with the case” suggest the US prosecutors are also seeking an agreement with the Swiss government on new ways of obtaining relevant information for the case “without having to deal with the restrictions of the Swiss bank secrecy laws.”
So far 41 people and entities have been charged in the US probe. The renewed pressure on the banks strongly indicates US attorney general Loretta Lynch is far from satisfied with that total, with banks under sustained pressure to provide more concrete information, if the spotlight is not to be shone in their direction.
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